Street festival lineup is set for IBMA’s Wide Open Bluegrass

There’s bluegrass news today, with a couple of big announcements pertaining to World of Bluegrass -- which starts Sept. 27, four weeks from today, with the International Bluegrass Music Association’s business conference.

First and foremost is the schedule for the Wide Open Bluegrass StreetFest, a free weekend street festival that has drawn huge throngs to downtown Raleigh in years past. Last year’s rainy weather didn’t cooperate, so it was moved inside the Raleigh Convention Center.

Weather permitting, this year’s model will be back outdoors Sept. 30-Oct. 1, with more than 100 acts playing on seven stages across downtown. Among the acts on the schedule:

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The complete StreetFest schedule ishere. Concurrent with that will be the return of the Whole Hog Barbecue Championship (and fingers crossed for sunny skies, since bad weather canceled last year’s barbecue festivities). Also back this year is the Banjostand outside the Convention Center, and free admission to the IBMA trade show during the weekend.

Today’s other announcement is finalists for the IBMA’s annual Momentum Awards, primarily given to artists “in the early stages of their bluegrass music careers.” Those will be presented Sept. 28 as part of the IBMA conference, and North Carolina’s Momentum nominees include: